Europe and North America

The individual learning credit card is an innovative tool developed by the Italian Ministry of Labour and Welfare to support individualized learning solutions for adults. As of 2009, the credit card has been activated in five provinces in cooperation with a group of four firms. The goal of the initiative is to promote adult participation and training by enforcing proactive labour-market measures, promoting mobility and flexibility of career paths and improving access to training (Cedefop, 2009).

Le compte personnel de formation – CPF (French for the Personal Training Account) is an initiative in France that helps individuals build up training entitlements over time. The CPF introduces a scheme to finance training for workers from their entry into the labour market until their retirement. The initiative focuses on optimizing workers’ skills for today’s job market. Based on recognition of ‘individual rights’ to training, the scheme aims to make training more accessible and mobile (Cedefop, 2016).

In Poland, the Krajowy Fundusz Szkoleniowy - KFS (National Training Fund - NTF) was launched in 2014 as part of the reform of labour market services. Employers can receive funding to cover up to 80% of the costs of training and educating employees, while micro-entrepreneurs are entitled to 100% of the costs. Employers can use the National Training Fund resources to finance the diagnosis of training needs, courses, postgraduate studies and examinations (UIL, 2016).

The Austrian Lifelong Learning Strategy (LLL:2020) was adopted on 5 July 2011 by the Council of Ministers. LLL:2020 implements a holistic approach to learning, from early childhood education and care to school and higher education, adult education and post-professional training and education. The strategy incorporates different policy areas of education, integration, labour market, economy, social and financial issues (Eurydice, 2018).

The Composite Learning Index (CLI) developed by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) assesses the state of lifelong learning over time using the conceptual framework of lifelong learning proposed by UNESCO’s International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century (Delors et al, 1996, as cited in Saisana, 2008).